Japan September 2017: Grinpia Makinohara, Shizuoka (グリンピア牧の原、静岡)

（すみません、日本語があまり上手じゃない。）

I called to make a reservation (Japanese only) for the tea-picking experience at 11AM. There's only one timing on weekdays and two on weekends: 11AM and 2PM. It costs ¥820 (I think, I can't remember the exact amount).

I opted to dress up in tea lady costume 茶娘衣装 (cha musume ishou) so we arrived at 10:30AM for me to get dressed. I was instructed over the phone to bring a t-shirt to wear inside. Rental of the costume is ¥880. It's for women only.

平日は午前１１時しかない。週末は午前１１時と午後２時がある。電話で予約することができる。茶娘衣装も着たいので、１０時半に着いた。茶娘衣装（女の人だけ）のレンタル費は８８０円だ。

There was a short briefing on which part of the leaves to pick and a demonstration on how to pick it. If you pluck the right part, the tea stem snaps easily. The fresh tea leaves can be brought home and they gave a recipe for tea leaves tempura but we were told to use them ASAP so this is really just for experience if you're an overseas tourist because there is no way you can cook it unless you're accommodation has a kitchen. I felt really sad that I had to throw away the tea leaves at the hotel on the last day was they were no longer fresh and green. In retrospect, I could have given it to the owners of a minshuku I stayed in but we didn't bring the leaves with us.

先にお茶摘みについてを説明させてもらった。持ち帰ったお茶の葉は料理するできる。例えば天ぷらだ。

I went crazy at the shop!
楽しく買い物した！

Check out these cute tea bags!
可愛い動物のティーバッグ

We had a light snack at the adjacent restaurant.
隣のレストランで食事をした。

Chasoba (which was ordinary) with tea leaves tempura and green tea sea salt (which were great!)
茶そば（ままだ。。。）と天ぷら茶の葉

Green tea dessert platter
抹茶のデザート

As it was too cloudy, Fujisan could not be seen but it made tea-picking more comfortable.

曇りから、富士山が見えなかった。でも、暑くなかった天気でお茶摘みは楽だった。

http://grinpia.com/

Access:

It is possible to drive from Shizuoka station. I didn't see any other form of public transport to get there.

アクセス：

静岡駅から車で